But the complexities of company business are much more pressing these days; and it is hard to view Rojo's Aurora as a very young, rosily inexperienced Princess. Her dancing is still exceptional in the musical modulation of her hands, eyes and arms, and her effortlessly multiple pirouettes. But on opening night she looked visibly under stress, dancing the Rose Adagio with gritted nerves, and rarely reacting with her former expressiveness to the other dancers on stage.

Still, if the demands of the job are creeping into Rojo's dancing, the rest of the company seems to be flourishing. Vadim Muntagirov, as her Prince Désiré, continues to mature – his former awkward corners evened out in dancing of lean virtuosity. Daria Klimentová concentrates all her radiance into the role of the Lilac Fairy, but plays wickedly off James Streeter as her evil opposite, Carabosse.

That Carabosse is danced as a male role allows Streeter to pitch his performance with malevolent, lip-curling camp. This is one of the few Beauties where we truly believe that a slight from the palace could arouse the Bad Fairy to murderous revenge. By contrast, some of the other solo performances look cautious. But it's lovely to see the very young Nancy Osbaldeston in full flight, with intensity and speed.

As theatre, this Beauty, first staged by Kenneth MacMillan in 1987, is surely the best in town – vivid and shapely in its storytelling, inventive in its adaptation of Petipa's choreography. And the designs by Nicholas Georgiadis remain breathtaking, opulent court costumes that move and shimmer in response to the dancers' bodies: a changing palette of colour that seems to alter the quality of light. This is one of those rare Beauties that serves equally the demands of ballet and fairytale in style.

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